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Cervical cancer is a type of cancer that occurs in the cervix. This is located at the lower part of the uterus and it connects to the vagina. I describe the cervix as the opening or the mouth of the uterus. It is part of the uterus that remains closed during pregnancy, and it keeps the pregnancy inside the uterus until it’s time for delivery.
The cervix is made of two parts with two different types of cells. The exocervix is the outer part of the cervix covered in squamous cells. The endocervix is the inner canal of the cervix that leads to the uterus and is made of glandular cells. There’s something called the transformation zone where these two types of cells meet. And this changes as we get older. Most cervical cancers begin right there in this transformation zone. Squamous cell carcinomas make up 80 to 90% of the cervical cancers, and adenocarcinomas, which are the cancers arising in the glandular cells, make up about 10 to 20%. According to the American Cancer Society, about 14,000 women in the US will be diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer. More than 4,200 women will die from cervical cancer in 2021. Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer for women worldwide. But what is more important and sad is that it is also one of the most preventable types of cancers, especially since it is most commonly diagnosed in young women between ages of 35 and 45 years.
